Melodies and Memories
by Mandy of the Amoeba
Summary: One of my first pitiful attempts at a song-fic....centered around Minerva McGonagall.


Disclaimer: I dun own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does, lucky her....oh, and I don't own "The Song Remembers When", either. Trisha Yearwood does. She owns a LOT of songs I like, come to think of it....  
  
A/N: This fic may seem a bit strange to some...I'm not really sure why I wrote it, other than the fact I heard the song and wanted to write a fic about it. As for what made me choose these two characters....I'm not really sure about that, either. *shrugs* Oh, and the song she's listening to probably isn't the same song that the fic is actually based on.....it's just a song to trigger a memory.  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
_  
I was standing at the counter   
I was waiting for the change   
When I heard that old familiar music start   
It was like a lighted match   
Had been tossed into my soul   
It was like a dam had broken in my heart _  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
Minerva McGonagall sighed, curling up in a worn, comfortable armchair by the small fire kept lit in her bedroom.  She idly flicked the radio on; no sooner had her fingers touched the dial when she froze, hand poised in midair. A sudden rush of long-forgotten memories came pouring into her soul......memories that had long ceased to stir any true feelings within her heart, but still left a shadowy imprint of old emotions only brought back by a melody....  
  
  
_After taking every detour   
Getting lost and losing track   
So that even if I wanted   
I could not find my way back   
After driving out the memory   
Of the way things might have been _  
_After I'd forgotten all about us   
The song remembers when _  
  
  
She could remember everything as clearly as if it had been yesterday. Though he had been a Slytherin and she a Gryffindor, they had somehow been attracted to one another.  They were both relatively open-minded, and therefore decided to take a stab at having a relationship. They were rivals in Quidditch, of course, but that was beside the point.  His mind was probably what Minerva had loved the most about him...he was the one person her own age that she felt she could really talk to about intellectual matters.  High intellect was something she always treasured in a person.  
  
  
_We were rolling through the Rockies   
We were up above the clouds   
When a station out of Jackson played that song   
And it seemed to fit the moment   
And the moment seemed to freeze   
When we turned the music up and sang along   
  
_  
Yet there was more to their relationship than studies and scholastic conversations.  As she listened to the notes tinkling out of the radio, she recalled other aspects, as well.  Dancing......this had been their song. She remembered twirling across the floor of the Great Hall in his arms to the music, feeling light-headed. She remembered him singing the same song to her as they walked near the lake before sunset, time seeming to melt into oblivion as his pale green eyes met with her gray ones, as their lips met in a soft, youthful kiss.  
  
_  
And there was a God in Heaven   
And the world made perfect sense   
We were young and were in love   
And we were easy to convince   
We were headed straight for Eden   
It was just around the bend   
And though I have forgotten all about it   
The song remembers when _  
  
  
Then suddenly, everything had changed. The year they had graduated Hogwarts together was the same year the Dark Lord had begun rising to power, rising so rapidly that no one really knew what was going on. No one knew who to trust anymore. Albus Dumbledore, the new Headmaster at Hogwarts, was one of the few wizards who still kept everyone calm, because they knew he was the only one He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named feared. Even people who had gone to school together for years became wary of each other....their world was crumbling around them...but she never imagined he would turn...  
  
  
_I guess something must have happened   
And we must have said goodbye   
And my heart must have been broken   
Though I can't recall just why   
The song remembers when _  
  
  
Oddly, she didn't really remember exactly when it had happened, nor how they had drifted apart. After graduation, they still saw each other, but their meetings became fewer and farther between. She knew he was hiding something from her, and she was so afraid to find out what it was. Finally, they stopped meeting altogether.....he had become a Death Eater. Not many people knew about this, but of course Minerva did; he couldn't keep something that big from someone he'd been close to for so long.  
  
_  
Well, for all the miles between us   
And for all the time that's passed   
You would think I haven't gotten very far   
And I hope my hasty heart   
Will forgive me just this once   
If I stop to wonder how on earth you are   
_  
  
They had finally gone their separate ways, the teenage romance soon forgotten. She had become a teacher at Hogwarts, and he had married, after inheriting his father's fortune. There was no way to expose him as a Death Eater, even though most everyone knew it. You can't convict a man without proof. And deep in her heart....she hadn't really wanted to.   
  
  
_But that's just a lot of water   
Underneath a bridge I burned   
And there's no use in backtracking   
Around corners I have turned   
Still I guess some things we bury   
Are just bound to rise again   
For even if the whole world has forgotten   
The song remembers when _  
  
  
With a soft sigh, Professor McGonagall withdrew from her memories, flicking off the radio as the song ended and the announcer's voice came on. She couldn't go back. She didn't WANT to go back. It felt so foolish now, the thought of loving him. She had no more kind feelings for him left in her heart; she almost detested the man now for what he had become, for what he had done to people he once called friends.  He was a traitor and a turncoat, nothing more. No....she was no longer in love with Lucius Malfoy in any way. It was just a melody that brought back a memory.  
  
  
_Even if the whole world has forgotten   
The song remembers when _  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
A/N (again!): I have this feeling that this didn't turn out the way I'd originally meant it......ah, well. Oh, and before I get flames telling me that the ages/time frames aren't right.....I wrote this three years ago, at at the time I pictured Minerva as being in her forties. I STILL picture her that way sometimes, even though Rowling said she's seventy. So....yeah. My fanfic, my ages. *g*  
  
  
  



End file.
